Chelvadurai Anjalendran is many diverse personalities rolled into one man. He is one of Sri Lanka’s foremost architects. Some may find him brusque, others may say he is genuine and genteel, but everyone agrees he is unique - both in his work and his manner; no two words about that. He has no office, no secretary, no cell phone, no car, no bank account but he has generosity of spirit in plenty. He employs undergraduate architecture students, just four at a time and then follows their careers and helps them whenever the need for a helping hand is discerned. He keeps in touch with past students and promotes them whenever possible. He is often outrageous with a puckish sense of humour and a just-don’t-care attitude. A picture of him posted on Internet shows him with towel across bare chest and a hibiscus stuck behind his ear! Another has him striking a Bharatha Natyam pose. However gravitas - seriousness - is also a major component of his personality.

He initially worked with Geoffrey Bawa and then Surath Wickremasinghe, and in 1982 started his own practice, first on the verandah of his mother’s house in Gregory’s Road and then in his own uniquely built house in Battaramulla. Anjalendran has built residences, offices and commercial buildings and most praiseworthily - five wonderful SOS Children’s Villages at rock bottom cost. His buildings total 120, some of which were designed free. He is an excellent teacher, lecturing in Sri Lanka and abroad, and winner of prestigious awards.

Grandson of the famous C Sunderalingam – Minister in the first D S Senanayake Cabinet - and belonging to one of Jaffna’s elite families, Anjalendran graduated from the University of Moratuwa with a BSc in Architecture. With British Council sponsorship he moved to the University College of London where he obtained his Diploma and Master’s degree in Architecture. He is a member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architecture (SLIA) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was design tutor/year master at the Colombo School of Architecture 1986-89 and is presently visiting lecturer at the Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa. He also served as a Teaching Fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT in Boston (1986) and was convener of Design Workshops for many years in the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi.

Awards he’s won in plenty: four SLIA Design Awards; the Herman Gmeiner Silver Medal in ‘Appreciation and Thanks’ for his SOS Village work; the Kenneth F Brown Asia Pacific Architecture and Culture Design Award, in Hawaii. These honours and others sit very lightly on the man. "Over the last two decades, Anjalendran has established himself as one of Sri Lanka’s leading architects. His buildings have a simple directness and although totally modern in spirit, they acknowledge the rich tradition of Sri Lanka. He uses the simplest of material to create magic, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the series of SOS villages." (Announcement on Inernet of the launch of Anjalendran: Architect of Sri Lanka on 19 October)

To me the quality that exemplifies Anjalendran is his generosity. Not only is this apparent in his dealings with others, it permeates his work as well. His buildings, even when built to tight budgets are open and welcoming. Nature included, trees seldom cut since many of his buildings embrace a tree. Color is ever-present, giving inhabitants and visitors a sense of delight. But behind the beautiful facades and the lush courtyards is an underlying rigour and attention to detail; an understanding of climate, culture and the needs of the client; that makes his work stand apart.

My daughter-in-law and I were once given a tour by Anjalendran of a few recent houses and it was an experience not to be forgotten. A knock on the door and a cursory –"I’ll take them round" to the owners (they must be used to him dropping by unannounced), and we were off at break-neck speed from room to room, with scant notice of sleeping occupants in some of them. The rapid progression was interrupted by instructions to perch on a toilet seat and admire the view of the sky (an open-air shower is an unexpected delight in many of his houses), or to stop at a certain point and take in a carefully constructed vista.

He inherits, I am sure, many of his qualities from his mother, Lingawathy Chelvadurai – a wonderful woman who looks on life with positivity and humour. A pleasure always to visit her as one comes away refreshed with a sense of optimism to life transferred from her to the visitor. She knew his students when they worked with him on her verandah and now welcomes them when they visit, keenly interested in their progress: academically, professionally and life-wise. That is the generosity of spirit and concerned interest that has been transmitted to this second of her three sons.

David Robson’s book on his friend and fellow architect: Anjalendran – Architect of Sri Lanka was launched on 19 October and a presentation made at the British Council on the evening of 26 October. Published by Periplus, the book features text by Robson and photographs by Waruna Gomis. David Robson is also the author of Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works; Beyond Bawa: Modern Masterworks of Monsoon Asia; and Bawa: the Sri Lankan Gardens. He is Professor of Architecture at the University of Brighton and a visiting professor in the National University of Singapore. He met Anjalendran when he was working on his first book on Bawa and drew heavily on Anjalendran’s recollections and archives. Prof Robson taught in Colombo in the early 1970s and was subsequently an advisor to the government and involved in Prime Minister Premadasa’s 100,000 houses project.

The presentation at the British Council was riveting – due to both the speaker and the subject spoken about. Most of Anjalendran’s buildings were projected on screen with comments on the special features of each building. But what I found most interesting were insights to the man – his penchant for collecting artifacts and art objects wherever he travels with no consideration of cost, bulk or weight, and how he was taught Baratha Natyam as a young boy and took to it again recently as a reliever of stress.

Excerpting from an interview given by Anjalendran to the New Straits Times Malaysia in August this year, I’ll present his views, his philosophy on work and life and a glance at who he really is.

His philosophy on architecture: "Be simple, less pretentious and build for the less rich."

His philosophy on life: "Do not try to save the world, but try and perhaps make a few people around you happy."

If he were given his life to live over, what changes would he make? "Nothing, even the harsher realities of life which have betrayed my innocence and on occasion even friendships. I recognize now, that nothing is really perfect."

If not an architect, what would he have been? And why? "I would have loved to be a dancer, but I would not make as many others as happy as I have with my architecture, and perhaps, not less importantly, I could never have made a living".

About his architecture, I quote just a couple of answers.

The building that most inspired him: "Geoffrey Bawa’s garden Lunuganga at Bentota where I spent most weekends with my mentor between 1983 and 1992…."

His favourite of the buildings he’s designed: "My own house, built in 1993, around a courtyard. Its tent-like space seems to contain my contradictions and anxieties of life."

His most challenging building: "Mt Cinnamon at Mirissa for Miles Young as there was much design precedence around. Geoffrey had designed the Jayewardene House nearby, and Kerry Hill had his own renovated house in Galle … There was also a lot of derivative ‘Sri Lankan Style’ among the expatriates which was the fashion. One wondered whether one could do something different and perhaps original."

He explains at the end of the interview what home is to him and what Sri Lanka means to him: "A place where I can chill-out with music, often the ragas from India. It is also a place where I can come to terms with my limitations and contradictions and a refuge from the harsher realities of the world outside."

"Sri Lanka will always be my home, and despite the constant wars till now, Sri Lanka had always been and will continue to remain more than a ‘small miracle’".

The human aspect of the man behind the buildings is what I am impressed by; over and above the brilliance of his architecture and the fame he has earned and won. His personality is complex, but within is a humane being with childlike wonder still intact.